Cap for receptacles



Aug. 16, 1932. G. A. WILLIAMS CAP FOR RECEPTACLES Filed June 19, 1950 2Sheets-Sheet 1 g- 1932- G. A. WILLIAMS 1,871,831

CAP FOR RECEPTACLES Filed June 19, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug.16, 1932 at r" GEORGE A. WILLIAMS, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS; ELIZABETH T.WILLIAMS, EXEGUTRIX OF SAID GEORGE A. WILLIAMS, DECEASED, ASSIGNOR TOWILLIAIVIS SEALING COR- PORATION, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OFILLINOIS CA]? FOR RECEPTACLES Application filed June 19,

This invention relates generally to caps for containers, such asbottles, jugs and metallic receptacles provided with necks and/ ornozzles. More particularly, it relates to caps each having a skirtprovided at its bottom with upwardly extending slots, with a dividedclamping wire ring mounted in a discontinuous annular seat formed byrolling upwardly the bottoms of the tongues formed by the slots, so asto produce approximately arcuate sleeves for the reception of the ring,the ring having oppositely disposed hooks at its ends, with a leverhaving a cam loop engaging each hook and adapted, by its downwardmovement, to draw the hooks toward each other, thereby to contract thering and clamp the bottom of the skirt into locking engagement with thetop of the neck or nozzle of a container.

As these caps have been constructed heretofore, a wide tongue has beenprovided on what will be referred to hereinafter as the front of the capskirt, the tongue being provided between slots which extend upwardlyfrom the bottom of the skirt a shorter distance than the slots by whichthe other tongues are provided and this front tongue has been rolledupwardly to form a shallow wide slot having at its top a bearing sleevewhich has served to retain the lever vertically in its downward orlocked position. This construction which I have used heretofore is shownmore particularly in my prior Patents 1,743,945 issued January 14, 1930,and 1,213,734 issued February 6, 1917.

As the caps have been constructed heretofore, it has been impossible tosecure a sufli cient contraction of the bottoms of the skirts of thecaps by the ring and the operating lever to enable the caps to be usedwith the tops of the necks or bottles of the crown-. finished type andalso with bottles heretofore adapted especially for the use of such capsand sold under the trade name Kork-N-Seal finish. Owing to the formerlimit of con- 1930. Serial No. 462,367.

tractibility of the bottoms of the skirts of my caps, it has beennecessary to confine the manufacturers of bottles or other containerswith which the caps have been used to a variation in the diameters ofsuch tops of from 1.010 to 1.030, which gave the manufac turers anallowance or tolerance of only .020. While it has been entirely feasibleto use bottle caps such as shown in my patents referred to hereinbeforeon necks and nozzles having the variations in diameter referred tohereinbefore, it has been impractical to use them at all on containershaving necks or nozzles of the crown-finished type. On bottles of thistype, there is a standard variation in the diameters of the tops, wherethe caps fit over the finish, of from 1.031 to a maximum of 1.063",which allows the manufacturers a variation or tolerance of .032 inmaking up their ware. Had it been attempted to apply caps made inaccordance with my patents aforesaid to the tops of crown finishreceptacles, it would have been impossible to force them over the topsof the larger necks as well as to obtain enough contraction in thebottoms of the cap skirts to secure an effective sealing action betweenthe caps and the tops of the receptacles.

One of the features of construction of the former caps which defeatedthis necessary range of expansion and contraction was the presence ofthe bearing sleeve, formed by rolling the wide tongue referred tohereinbefore. Owing to its length, it was impracticable to curve it soas to conform to the circular shape of the remainder of the cap skirtand of the portion of the bottle to which the cap was applied.Furthermore, the presence of this sleeve and the shallowness of the slotprovided therebeneath defeated the contractibility of the sleeve; andthiscontractibility was further decreased by the width of the tongues orsegments on each side of the slot and immediately adjacent thereto.Finally, if a cap such as heretofore constructed and used by me weredesigned to slip over the tops of the necks or nozzles of receptacleshaving the crown finish referred to, they could not also be used withthe tops of necks or nozzles of receptacles designed especially forsuchcaps.

By virtue of the construction and arrangement of parts shown anddescribed herein, I have produced a cap which can be applied, not onlyto the tops of necks or nozzles of the crown-finish type and form anefiective seal therewith against high internal pressures, but which canalso be applied to the tops of necks or nozzles of receptaclesespecially designed formy former type of cap and to make an eflicientseal with such necks or nozzles.

Furthermore, I am-enabled to apply-the caps by hand the first time or onthe original seal, not only to the necks or nozzles of receptaclesespecially designed for use with my former caps, but also to the necksor caps of the crown-finished typ-ean operation which was practicallyimpossible with my prior caps. The advantageous objects andresultspointed out hereinbefore are secured in and through theconstruction and arrangement of parts shown in the drawings whereinFig. 1. is a perspective view of a bottle neck having my improved capapplied thereto; Fig. 2 shows the cap in front elevation applied totheneck of a bottle; Fig. 3 is a central vertical section through'thecap and bottle neck looking toward the front of the cap; Fig. 4 is afragmentary detail of the cap; Fig. 5' is a side elevation, and Fig. 6 aplan view, showing the locking lever andthe-adjacent portion of the capwith the former in its raised or unlocked position, these and theremaining views being on a scale-considerably enlarged over that of theprecedingviews; Figs. 7. and 8 are views similar to Figs. 5 and 6,respectively, showing the lever as inthe act of being depressed towardlockingposition; and Figs. 9 and 10 are like views showing the lever inits vertical, locked position.

The cap is made from a single piece of sheet metal comprising a circulartop .portion 10 and a depending skirt 11, the skirt being provided withvertical slots .12 extending upwardly from the bottom thereof, providingnarrow tongues 13, 13 therebetween. The skirt is provided with a wideslot 14 extending upwardly from the bottom thereof, between the tongues13. This slot extends upwardly a considerable distance, preferably morethan half the distance between the bot tomof the skirt and the "top ofthe cap and preferably to a point just below the liner. The dividedflexible clamping ring 15 is con nected to the bottom of the skirt byrolling upwardly the bottoms of the tongues to provide at their lowerends arcuate bearing sleeves 16, 16 in-which thering is mounted. Thering is preferably gripped tightly at its central or rear portion by thesleeve or sleeves of the bottom or bottoms of the tongueor tongues atthe rear of the skirtdiametrically opposite the slot 14, being slidablein the other sleeves. The ends of the ring are pro vided each with ahook 17 located in the slot 14. I

18 denotes the handle of a locking lever made by twisting together theends of a piece of wire, the intermediate portion being bent to form apair of looped cams 19, each engaging a hook 17 the central portion 20of the wire connecting and spacing the cam-loops apart and forming across bar between said loops.

A liner 21, of material capable of considerable compression (such assoft rubber) is placed within the cap for the purpose of ensuring atight seal with the top of the neck or nozzle when the lever is drawndown and to enable the ring wire 15 to settle into the groove 22*, evenwhen the groove is located considerably below the top of the neck ornozzle ofthe receptacle 22.

By providing the cap with the relatively wide slot 14 and with .narrowsegments or tongues 13*" on each side thereof instead of the widesegments or'tongues heretofore employed and also by eliminating thebearing sleeve heretofore employed in a similarlylocated but relativelyshallow slot, 1am enabled to increase materially the circumference of"the skirt, when the ring 15 is in its open or distended position, andyet to contract the bottom of the skirt sufficiently by the ring 15 andlever 1820 to effect a tight seal for the neck or nozzle to which thecap is applied.

It will be noted that the skirt portion of the cap .is outwardly convexbetween the top and bottom thereof, the maximum diameter of the skirtbeing at a point below the tops of the slots 12. The advantage of thisconstruction will be pointedout hereinafter in connection withtheconstruction and operation of the cam loops.

In order'to obtain this additional contraction of the bottom of theskirt over that-obtainable in the skirts of other caps of this type, theinclination or throw of each cam loop 19 is correspondingly increasedover the inclination or throw of the cam loops of the levers formerlyemployed. In practice, this inclination or throw of the cam loopsjointly amounts toan increase of about .041 in the cam throw of thelever overthe throw that has been practicable to use on caps heretoforeemployed by me. Owing to this increase in throw, it isordinarilyunnecessary to increase the length of the wire ring 15, althrough the ends of the hooks have been lengthened so as to accommodatethis extra throw of the cam and still retain the cam loops upon thehooks when the lever is in its upward position.

In my present construction of locking lever, the lever is provided withcam loops which not only differ in shape and proportion from the camloops heretofore employed, but also in the location of the transverseconnecting or cross bar 20. The distance between the camloops proper attheir points of closest proximity or convergence is slightly less thanthe combined thickness of the stock of the two hooks on the locking wirewhich they engage; and, beyond this point of maximum convergence, aswill be apparent from the drawings, the cams diverge slightly so that,when the lever is thrown down, the hooks are. brought into engagementshortly before the lever handle reaches a vertical downward position;and on further movement of the lever in this same direction, the pointof maximum convergence not having been passed thecam loops are evenspread apart slightly until the distance betweenthe loops is slightlygreater than the combined diameters of the stock in the said hooks. Thisallows the lockingwire, which has been contracted very tightly about theneck, to expand slightly, which is one of the factors cooperating toinsure the retention of the lever in its vertical position.

Now to be more specific, and with particular reference to Figs. 5 to 10,as the locking lever is moved downward, the loops pivot about the endsof the hooks with the front sides of the loops engaging the ends of thehooks. Due to the shape of the cam loops, just before the lever reachesthe position where the distance between the cam loops is the minimum,the outer hook ends are in engagement with the inner surfaces of theouter or front portions of the loops while the rear outer surfaces ofthe camloops ride on the rear bends of the hooks, as distinctly shown inFig. 7 instead of bearing against the bottle neck or nozzle, thus makingit unnecessary to provide a special Kork-N- Seal finish neck for a.fulcrum for the cam loops as has been necessary heretofore in the use ofmy former caps.- Just as the lever is reaching its final verticalposition, the inclination of the cam loops is such that, in cooperationwith the hooks, the lever is moved bodily upwardly, bringing its crossbar into engagement with the bottoms of the hooks (Fig. 9). This crossbar, being parallel with the top of the cap and with the bottom of thehooks, insures the retention of the lever in a vertical position andprevents it from being twisted to one side or the other and henceprevents it from being unlocked. Due to the manner of constructing thecam loops, I am able to eliminate the bearing sleeve which was formerlyconsidered necessary to hold the lever in such vertical position and toprevent the lever from being twisted sidewise, with a resultant tendencyto releaseits locking action. I

By virtue of the construction of the cap 55 herein and the increaseinthe throws of the cam loops, I am enabled to employ caps having .041greater maximum circumference of skirt opening than it has been possibleto employ heretofore with such caps and yet to close such opening to thesame dimensions as heretofore, thereby'to obtain a tight seal with thenecks or nozzles to which the caps are applied. This, taken togetherwith the greater maximum distance between the operating portions of thecam loops, enables the caps to be applied by hand to the tops of bottlesor can nozzles to which former caps of this general construction cannotbe applied, even with the use of machinery; it also enables the caps tobe applied by hand to the necks or nozzles of the crown-finish type aswell as to the necks or nozzles of the Korlt N-Seal finish. In applyingthe caps to the larger types of bottle necks and nozzles, the

cap is applied by first engaging the back of the cap beneath theshoulder on the neck or nozzle and then rocking the cap forwardly anddownwardly, after which the lever may be thrown down. In the formerconstructions of caps, the bearing sleeves would catch the tops of thenecks and nozzles and, being straight and not conforming to thecircumference of the nozzles or bottle necks, would interfere with theapplication of the caps to bottles and nozzles of the crown type havinglarger necks than the Korl -N-Seal finish standards allowed.

It will be noted particularly that the slot 14 is arched upwardly. Byforming the slot in this manner, I obtain a material'increase in thestrength of the portions of the cap enclosing the slot and also enablethe cap the more readily to conform to the finish or curvature of theportion of the neck or nozzle to which it is applied. 7

. Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A cap comprising a top having a compressible liner therein andprovided with a skirt extending downwardly from such top, the skirtbeing provided with a wide unobstructed slot extending upwardly from thebottom thereof and with a plurality of vertical narrow slots extendingupwardly from the bottom thereof and forming depending tonguestherebetween, a divided ring provided with hooked ends mounted insleeves at the lower ends of said tongues and having such hooked endslocated in said wide slot, the skirt being convex outwardly between thetop and bottom thereofwith its maximum diameter below the tops of saidslots, and. a lever having cam loops engaging such hooked ends andadapted, when operated in one direction, to draw the ends of said ringtoward each other, the cam loops being of such contour that when thelever is moved downwards ly and approaches a vertically downwardposition, there will be a minimum divergence between the cam loops whichwillforce the hooks into engagement with each other, the cam loopsdiverging slightly from each other beyond such point whereby, on finaldownward movement of. the lever, the locking ring may expand, andcooperate with the loops to retain the lever in such vertical lockingposition.

2. A cap comprising a top having a compressible liner therein andprovided with a skirt extending downwardly from such top, the skirtbeing provided with a wide unobstructed slot extending upwardly from thebottom thereof and with a plurality of vertical narrow slots extendingupwardly from the bottom thereof and forming depending tonguestherebetween, a divided ring provided with hooked ends mounted insleeves at the lower ends of said tongues and having such hooked endslocated in said wide slot, the skirt being convex outwardly between thetop and bottom thereof with its maximum diameter below the tops of saidslots, and a lever having cam loops engaging the hooked ends of saidring and adapted, when operated in one direction, to draw the ends ofsaid ring toward each other, said cam loops being connected by a crossbar, the cam loops being of such contour that when the lever is moveddownwardly and approaches a vertically downward position there will be aminimum divergence between the cam loops which will force the hooks intoengagement with each other, the cam loops diverging slightly from eachother beyond such point whereby, on final downward movement of thelever, the locking ring may expand slightly and the lever move upwardlyto bring its cross bar into engagement with the lower surfaces of saidhooks thereby to retain the locking lever in such vertical lockingposition.

3. A cap comprising a top having a compressible liner therein andprovided with a skirt extending downwardly from such top, the skirtbeing provided with a wide unobstructed slot extending upwardly from thebottom thereof and with a plurality of vertical narrow slotsextending'upwardly from the bottom thereof and forming depending tonguestherebetween, a divided ring provided with hook-ed ends mounted insleeves at the lower ends of said tongues and having such hooked endslocated in said wide slot, and a lever having cam loops connected byacross bar, the cam loops being of such contour that when the lever ismoved downwardly and approaches a vertically downward position, therewill be a minimum divergence between the cam loops, the cam loopsdiverging slightly from each other beyond such point whereby, on finaldownward movement of the lever, the locking ring may expand slightly andthe lever will be moved upwardly to bring its cross bar into engagementwith the lower surfaces of said hooks thereby-to retain the lockinglever in. such vertical locking 'POSl'-- tion.

4. A cap; comprising a skirt having. a relatively wide, unobstructedslot and aplurality of vertical narrow'slots extending upwardly from thebottom thereof and defining tonguestherebetween, the tongues being:formed at their lower ends to provide sleeves, a divided ring havinghooked ends and mounted insaid sleeves with said hooked ends located inthe aforesaid wide slot,v and a lever having cam loops engaging saidhooked ends and adapted, when operated in one direction, to draw theends of said ring toward each other, the cam loops being. of suchcontour that when the lever is moved downwardly and approaches avertical downward osition, there will be a minimum divergence etweenthecam loops which will force the hooked ends of said ring into contiguitywith each other, thecam loops diverging slightly from each other beyondsuch point whereby on final downward movement of the lever, the lockingring-may expand and cooperate with the loops to retain the lever in suchvertical locking position.

5. A cap comprising a skirt having a relatively wide, unobstructed. slotand a plurality of vertical narrow slots'extending upwardly from thebottom thereof and defining tongues therebetween, the tongues beingformed at their lower ends'to provide sleeves, a divided ring havinghooked ends and mounted in said sleeves with said hooked ends located inthe aforesaid wideslot, and a lever having cam loops engaging saidhooked ends and adapted, when operated in one direction, to draw theends of said ring toward each other,said cam loops being connected by across bar, the cam loops being of such contour that when the lever ismoved downwardly and approaches a vertical downward position there willbe aminimum divergence'between the cam loops which will force the hookedends of said ring intocontiguity with each other, the cam loopsdiverging slightly from each other beyond such point whereby, on finaldownward movementof the lever, the locking ring may expand slightly andthe lever move upwardly .to bring-its cross bar into engagement with thelower surfaces of said hooked ends thereby to retain the locking leverin such vertical locking'position. v

6'. A cap comprising a skirt having a relatively wide, unobstructed slotand a plurality of vertical narrow slots extending upwardly from thebottom thereof and defining tongues therebetween, the tongues beingformed at their lower ends to provide sleeves, a divided ring havinghooked ends and mounted in said sleeves with said hooked ends located inthe aforesaid wide slot, and alever having cam loops engaging saidhooked ends and adapted, when operated: in one direction, to

draw the ends'of said ring'toward each other,

the cam loops being of such contour that just before the lever reaches aposition wherein the parts of the opposed loops that are nearesttogether are acting upon the hooked ends to draw them together and thuscontract the ring, the outer portions of the hooked ends are inengagement with the inner surfaces of the outer or front portions of theloops While the rear outer surfaces of said loops are in 10 contact withthe rear bends of the hooks.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto atfix my signature.

GEORGE A. WVILLIAMS.

